This invention lies in the field of thermally joining small diameter plastic pipes by a hand held device.
There is a large body of art on the joining of large diameter plastic pipes, all of which requires large and heavy machinery. Heretofore there has not been any other satisfactory way of fusion joining small plastic pipe (i.e. under 2" and typically 1/2" to 3/4" diameter). The joining of plastic pipe by fusion permits an accurate joining operation so that the ultimate conditions of the joints will be known.
While this invention uses the well known steps of facing the ends of the two pipes, heating the ends of the two pipes to a selected temperature and then applying the two ends of the two pipes together coaxially with a selected force. This invention fills the need where nothing has existed prior to the present time.